Tag: SergeyBrin

A couple of tasters, who claim they’re unpaid and impartial, are currently chomping their way through some very expensive artificial flesh at a publicity event in London. According to the BBC’s science correspondent Pallab Ghosh, who is also at the gathering, the main feedback so far is that the meat — which is presented as a burger — isn’t as juicy or tasty as the real thing, mainly because it’s totally lean. The substance was grown by a team at the University of Maastricht, with a spot of funding from none other than Google visionary Sergey Brin, who believes the technology is on the “cusp of viability” as a solution to animal welfare issues. Lead researcher Prof. Mark Post doesn’t seem too disheartened by the tasters’ comments, but says he’s working to improve flavor. At a current cost of $325,000 per patty, people are going to expect something special regardless of the ethical or ecological arguments — and some cajun spices probably won’t cut it.

Sergey Brin wasn’t too happy with how his critique of Apple and Facebook was represented in the media following an interview he gave to the Guardian. In a post on Google+ (hey, if he won’t use it, who will?) Brin lamented that, “my thoughts got particularly distorted… in a way that distracts from my central tenets.” The CEO believes that undue attention was given to his complaints about Facebook and Apple’s “restrictive” walled gardens, when he sees oppressive governments and state-sanctioned censorship as much larger issues. Of course, while Brin does say he admires his competitors, he never truly backpedals from his criticism or says that it was taken out of context. To let Sergey explain himself, hit up the source link.